Said the Holy Prophet who spoke nothing but the revelation from God: "I LEAVE BEHIND ME AMIDST YOU TWO GREAT THINGS, THE 'BOOK OF GOD' (THE HOLY QUR'AN) AND MY 'AHLUL-BAIT'. SHOULD YE BE ATTACHED TO THESE TWO, NEVER, NEVER SHALL YE GET ASTRAY AFTER ME, FOR VERILY THESE TWO WILL NEVER BE SEPERATED FROM EACHOTHER UNTIL THEY MEET ME AT THE 'SPRING' (OF 'KAUTHAR.')" Selections from Qazi Noaman's Kitabul Himma OR Code of Conduct for the followers of ImamTo hold the Imams in the highest esteem is a duty enjoined on us by Allah. He has associated the the devotion to them with the devotion to himself and the devotion to the Prophet. He has laid emphasis on our devotion to them and has further ordered us to refer our disputes to them.In view of the fact that our devotion to the Prophet is just the same as our devotion to Allah, it is incumbent on us all to revere the Imam of our time to the same extent to which our Prophet was revered by the followers of his days.It behoves every one of us then that we should hold them in reverence and bow down to them with humility. Let our respect for the Imams and our fear of them be propmpted by no other motive than our desire to please Allah who has elevated them to this highest position. Worldly men respect the Kings because of their wealth and they fear them because of their pomp and power. But the followers of Imams should revere their spiritual heads because of the dignity of the Imamat which they carry with themselves and they should stand in awe of them because of the dazzling light of divine wisdom which radiates from their foreheads.Let us look upon them as Kings in the realm of religion and let us respect them because Allah protects them. Let us look at them with our senses intact. Let us look at them with eager eyes, and an anxiety to look at them again and again. There is a tradition to the effect that "To look at the Imam is a devotion and to look at the Quran is a devotion." The word looking in this tradition does not mean an absent-minded-glance. It means thoughtful looking. For, to a mere on-looker, without thinking, there is no advantage from his looking at the Quran. Allah says, "Do they not ponder on the Quran? Are their minds locked up?" There is also a tradition to the effect that "Reading of one verse thoughtfully is better than reading the Quran thoughtlessly for the whole night."Let us then pay full attention to the words of the Imam when we listen to them. Let us be all ears when they talk and let us ponder over the matter when they finish their talk. We must bear in mind that their words are practically the words of the Prophet himself. For, devotion to Allah and the Prophet are linked together by Allah. Let us obey their commands and prohibitions. Let us do what they want us to do and let us keep aloof from what they do not want us to do.For, every word of them is full of wisdom and every expression of their means to us a world of good. It is a gift of Allah to understand these things.If any one of us finds the words of the Imam highly complicated and beyond his depth, if he does not understand the meaning or dislikes some part of it or finds it useless or meaningless then let him realise that the fault lies with him. He should admit his inefficiency and refer the matter to someone else who is better informed in this than himself to enlighten him. If he can not find any one to solve his difficulty, even then he should retain his regard for these traditions and his faith in them. He should adopt the next best course to know them and trust the Imam for the rest. The following is a poem by Rumi: Everywhere the secret of God is coming-see how the people are coming uncontrollably; From him for whom all souls are athirst, to the thirsty the cry of the water carrier is coming. They are milk drinkers of divine generosity, and are onthe watch to see from whence the mother is coming. They are in seperation, and all are waiting to see whence union and encounter are coming. From Moslems, Jews, and Christians alike every dawn the sound of prayer is coming; Blessed is that intellegence whose heart's ear from heaven the sound of "Come hither" is coming. Keep your ear clean of scum, for a voice is coming from heaven; The defiled ear hears not that sound-only the deserving gets his deserts. Defile not your eye with human cheek and mole, for that Emperor of eternal life is coming; And if it has become defiled, wash it with tears, for the cure comes from those tears. A caravan of sugar has arrived from Egypt; the sound of footfall and bells is coming. Ha, be silent, for to complete the ode of our speaking King is coming.